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Who is heading to the gentling rolling Suffolk countryside (or The Sunrise Coast as absolutely no one ever calls it) this July? Having been in 2010 and 2011, I took a year off in 2012 so does anyone want to provide an update on changes last year?

Current hot rumours for headliners are Kraftwerk, Pet Shop Boys and Portishead which would suit me very well thank you. Suggestions that Atoms For Peace might fit in an appearance around their summer tour – if so, that’s a £50 value ticket saved right there! I always look to the 6Music playlist for suggestions as to what the white middle classes are listening to, so presumably we can also expect to see Alt-J, Django Django, The XX, Foals...anyone else? As we all know however, Latitude is so much more than a music festival, it’s primarily a ‘performing arts’ affair – so, any comedians, authors, unicyclists or jugglers you would like to see perform? Daniel Kitson returning to The Lake Stage would be most welcome.

I've noticed a lot of crossover in recent years between Glastonbury/Roskilde and Bestival/Berlin, but presumably this is primarily driven by dates and being in different countries - don't know if artists sign any exclusivity deals for festivals.

Also, don't feel too worried about Glastonbury resale tickets - Latitude is a much better festival these days :)

I went in '08/'09/'10 and whilst I was never short of things to do, last year's lineup just looked a whole lot better. I just presumed it was because acts that would hang a tour around festivals went there instead of Glastonbury.

If we look at the headliners from the previous three years (ie when it became one of the bigger mainstream fesivals) then you've had:
2010: Florence & Her Machine - Belle & Sebastian - Vampire Weekend
2011: The National - Paolo Nutini - Suede
2012: Bon Iver - Elbow - Paul Weller
Not sure that either Atoms For Peace or Phoenix would quite have the widespread appeal to headline based on the above. Thom Yorke played the main stage back around when The Eraser came out, but was down the billing.

- The corporate presence was loud and proud(2/3rds of the wrist band being taken up by PORPOERTY OF FESTIVAL REPUBLIC, man in a pig costume and an M&S shirt handing out packets of Percy Pigs)
- Some of the facilities were pretty rubs
- The bar system were you got charged each time for the cups then had to get a refund afterwards was infuriating, especially on Elbow day where you basically couldn't get near the bars
- There was one bar that sold nothing but cigarettes. Bit iffy
- I loved Huw Stephens' DJ set because he was the only DJ all weekend bar Norman Jay who didn't just play Generic Indie Disco 2005

I would like to hope that it wasn't a cynical attempt to wring money from punters not being bothered to return their cups. Do V Festival still do the beer tickets thing, where you can only buy tickets for a specific day? Fuck. That. Shit.

Hopefully they will have learnt from last year. I like the cup deposit idea as it means that you're not wading through litter all the time.

...the album hit number 3 in the UK charts plus, maybe more surprisingly, was also top 40 in the US. I wonder if, while they have lost their indie credibility, these days they are a recognisable enough name to shift units in a kind of Keane type manner.

Bloc Party - Kraftwerk - Foals
Modest Mouse - Alt-J - Beach House
With decent size bands like The Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs on the undercard and more to come. Anyone have any feelings about Sunday's 'special guests'? Are we still thinking Atoms For Peace?

Really hoping for The Knife though, since the line-up seems to be a lot younger/more 'yoof' than in previous years. Just got to convince people that watching four elderly German blokes not do much for two hours will be worth the money...

Although doesn't it look like they've paired the two top bands on the previous days? Maccabees w/Bloc Party. Hot Chip w/Kraftwerk (as per my thinking on why Hot Chip are above The Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Therefore I'm not sure that Goldfrapp would necessarily dovetail quite so well.

Who would be a suitable warm up for Foals do we think? Maybe someone a bit like Atoms For Peace perhaps?

They'll be on, what, about 6pm, so a nice dose of late arvo/early evening sun. New album to promote, assuming there are no big clashes they could have a pretty monster crowd. Then Hot Chip can do the more electric stuff to warm up for Kraftwerk.
Overall I would predict a win/10...

I think four times. He's doing the new show in comedy arena, a show with gavin osborne in poetry, a showing and Q and A of his new documentary live show in Film and Music and a new show in the theatre arena.

...depending on the buzz that their new album generates, I reckon they could draw a monster crowd on the Saturday. At around 6pm when they'll be on, a lot of people will be settling in for the evening session. Think that the scheduling makes sense this way round, with Hot Chip a decent warm up for Kraftwerk.

which will probably be the last 'big name' to be added. Second stage will probably have a couple more names added for Sat and Sun, then a smattering of names across the other stages. It's looking pretty full though now

There's a Travelodge about 30 miles from it, for about £30 on both nights. So... travel up on Friday after work, spend the Saturday there, drive home Sunday.

And now it turns out that the Neon Neon/Praxis Makes Perfect show is going to take place there on that day as well, at such a time that it should end just as we can then go and watch Hot Chip and Kraftwerk. Plus anything I can get up to in the five or so hours before that.

Really tempted but haven't done anything about it yet and probably won't now. I can afford to do it, but if I do then I probably won't be able to afford a holiday, which I could really use sometime soon.

To Cambridge, staying there Friday night then driving to Latitude on Saturday morning. If you look hard enough on the website it does say there is camping for one day ticket holders, even though the actual ticket says not. I am hoping that there is, otherwise I am likely to die on the drive back on Sunday. :(

...some good runs in there. On the Friday do I fancy the pulling power of Yo La Tengo/Cat Power/The Maccabees/ Bloc Party on the main stage or would that make me miss the folky stylings of John Grant/Beth Orton/Villagers in the tent?
Or should I just spend the whole day at the woods stage for Malcolm Middleton/Deptford Goth/Chvrches/Widowspeak/DIIV/Japandroids?
Decisions, decisions.

But the opening trio of Bo Ningen, White Denim and Efterklang was the best start to a festival I can remember. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Hot Chip and Kraftwerk to finish the music was very strong too. Karen O is marvellous, Hot Chip had a perfect setlist and Kraftwerk didn't disappoint. Even Russell Kane was funny. Chock full of Shoreditch though.

Thursday – Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars documentary concert played in full. Followed by an interview with the drummer Mick Woodmansey.

Friday – Coves on the Lake Stage. Absolutely nailed it. Also Diiv were great. Their new music sounded good.

Saturday – Screening of 'From the Sea to the Land Beyond' with British Sea Power playing the soundtrack live. Jagwar Ma, Hot Chip & Kraftwerk. Melt Yourself Down were brilliant on a little stage in the woods.

Sunday – iamamiwhoami and Friends were good, if a little under attended. Foals were good value for the headline slot.

Highlights:
-The Tour de Latitude M&S welcome area where I ate my weight in chicken and grapes and got absolutely smazzled on cider. Very welcome after cycling 120 miles. Melvin Benn was sitting on our table, he is a top top bloke.
- Daniel Kitson
- Cat Power
- Deptford Goth
- Hot Chip
- Melt Yourself Down
- White Denim
- Richard Herring
- Diiv
- Hookworms
- The atmosphere in the woods/i arena after midnight on Friday and Saturday was electric, had a lovely time dancing with mates and new mates
- Bo Ningen
- Valerie June
- Dealing with the Kraftwerk/Purity Ring/Alt-J clash by seeing all of them and managing to hear my fave PR song and Alt-J's one good song
- Bloc Party. Really don't care for their new stuff but they were really good fun.

Pretty much everyone I saw were good to outstanding. YYYs/Hot Chip/Kraftwerk on Saturday night was magical. Opted for Beach House over Foals, and glad I did - they were mesmorising (as ever) and managed to get to the front as the tent cleared after Disclosure. Praxis Makes Perfect was hugely entertaining. Even Bloc Party, who I find a bit meh (save for Silent Alarm), were a worthy headliner (even if Kele decided to have a hissyfit halfway through the set).

Other highlights: pottering around the woods at night, Guilty Pleasures on Friday night (hammered), Chvrches (despite all the kids trying to start a circle pit), Local Natives/Grizzly Bear back to back in the evening sun etc.

Highlights
+Daniel Kitson's film (despite the hour delay whilst they found a new projector)
+Kitson's work-in-progress (well five minutes work-in-progress, plus about 70 minutes of him building up to that five minutes and being very funny whilst doing so).
+Tamikrest & Moon Duo playing in the i Arena in the woods late on Sunday - could have done with fewer crane flys knocking about but both great sets.
+Kraftwerk - alright the 3-D isn't as impressive when watching from the back of a field rather than a relatively small art gallery but love hearing those sounds through a massive PA.
+Hot Chip - good fun as ever.
+Neon Neo/National Theatre of Wales - few techincal issues but it's a captivating show and the tunes are great.
+The Humble Quest for Universal Genius - game show thing with perfect silliness for a festival situation in the Literary tent.
+Sweet Baboo
+Jeffrey Lewis & The Rain. Not to sure about his 'After Dark' 'film' though.
+getting to the festival in time for John Grant despite the problems at Ipswich station requiring a last minute car hire from Colchester

Disappointments
-David Schneider's show about Twitter use wasn't nearly as good as I would have hoped from a chap of his pedigree
-John Grant coming to the end of his slot before he could play 'GMF'.

Obviously helped in no small part by the weather, and not just the sunshine either - the cooler mornings on Saturday and Sunday meant that I could get a bit of sleep and not have to burst from my tent on fire as soon as the sun's rays hit.
Saw quite a lot of marquee comedy in the end - Eddie Izzard, Dylan Moran, Richard Herring, Marcel Lucont, Sean Lock, Marcus Brigstocke, plus a load of smaller names.
Watched all three headliners on the main stage, which is the first time I've done that in years. Enjoyed Foals, and was pleased to see a relatively new band given a shot at the big stage. Possibly a bad thing to have got to the point of being a bit blase about Kraftwerk, but as it was the fourth time I've seen them live over the past few years I didn't think it was their best performance (although still great obviously). Bloc Party were very disappointing - whatever spark they once had seems to have dimmed to almost nothing.
Other highlights - Bo Ningen, Melt Yourself Down, Jagwar Ma Hookworms, too many others to mention.
Lowlights - aside from the aforementioed decline of Bloc Party, getting there late on the Friday so that I didn't have the opportunity to agonise over whether to catch John Grant or Deptford Goth. And taking a chunk out of my hand on the helter skelter.

Foals - as always were great
DIIV
MØ - surprise package of the weekend for me, great stage presence.
Daniel Kitson - Both morning and night shows were very funny
White Denim - although they played a good few new tracks, i'll never tire of watching them live

Lows
my girlfriend getting her wallet nicked from our tent whilst we were asleep in it through the night.
Thought Cat Power seemed really distracted throughout her set.

Kraftwerk were fucking amazing. One of the best things I've ever seen. Moved from serene synth pop to techno to industrial with ease.

Other highlights were Austra, Cat Power (amazing voice though she seemed really nervous, as I'd heard), Torres, James Holden, Daniel Kitson, James Blake, Don Letts DJing in the woods, Hot Chip making a whole field dance, YYY's, Calexico.

Thought Daughter was pretty boring, though the crowd seemed to like it. Might have seemed interesting in 2009, but y'know, The XX came along and did the whole thing a lot better.